How did you capture / acquire the audio in your tracks?

I just figured it out. Sorry for jumping the gun.

I simply needed to turn my Audio Playback Quality (in preferences)to 'low'. I can now adjust all of my levels, without mixing down. What a relief!

Thanks,
Aren.

I'm just starting to get familiar with FCP so I'm not sure about importing a movie with a different aspect ratio - my guess is that FCP will want to force it into a 4:3 ratio which would be very ugly indeed.

If you have access to an effects program like Adobe After Effects or Boris Red, that would be the way to go. AE is resolution independent so you can import any size and output any size. Then you could also set keyframes to "scan and pan" the image the way they do when they convert a movie to VHS.

Good Luck,
Mark

Hi,

If I remember correctly FCP and iMovie use different rates of audio, as does the XL1. You can't change the audio in iMovie, but the rate can be changed in FCP. When you start a new project set the audio in preferences for the rate in iMovie. Audio can also be changes in quicktime pro by chooseing the option button. If you need additional help post back and I'll talk you through it.

Jeff

Hi,

I just made my first DVD with iDVD2.

(G4 Mac, FCP3)

skin tones are very pink compared with playing back the footage from a miniDV tape or VHS dupe. So the pinkish colour must have been caused by the iDVD2 compression to Mpeg2 before burning to DVDR. Fair assumption?

Does this mean iDVD is not very good at keeping faithfull to colours? Is it because it is a cheap $$ to buy program and if you want quality burnt DVDs you need to buy DVD Studio Pro?

DVD Studio Pro OS X compatible still not available.

Anyone had this problem?

Are you viewing the dvd on a television or on your computer monitor? Depending on the nature and format of your original (pre-MPEG2) footage the end result can sometimes look soft on a computer monitor. I've had the best encoding results with iDVD when I give it DV stream footage. I think it has less to do with iDVD than with the black art of encoding strategies.

When playing the finished DVD back on the Mac the Actor looks badly sunburnt.

When playing the DVD back on TV he is sunburnt too.

But when the quicktime file that has been exported out of fCP but is still on the HDD it looks fine.

Also if I print to video from FCP and record into the XL1s again or onto a VHS and play that on the TV it is good too.

thats why I was thinking it is iDVD problem. What do you think?

and thanks a lot for your reply

:o)

Hmmm...well your circumstances certainly implicate iDVD's encoder, eh. I've not encountered this. Since there's no opportunity to intervene in iDVD's encoding process (that I know of) the only other chance for adjustment would be in the FCP export. What format do you use to export from FCP? As I noted earlier I always have used a DV stream file.

I did a series of tests over the weekend and found some interesting results.

Bottom line is this:
1. If I run FCP 3.0 in mac osx and capture to my external firewire drive, the audio is garbled. It is automatically saved as a QT clip and no matter what - even if I move the saved file back to my internal drive, the audio is too fast and loopy.
2. If I do the same thing but in macos 9.2, everything is fine - no audio or video problems. And the saved clips open in macos x and work fine.
3. If I change my scratch disk to the internal drive, everything works from the getgo in macos x.
4. Conclusion: FCP thru firewire in osx is different, then in os 9. I may need a faster external drive (using Que firewire 60GB), but I have a workaround that works (os9).

Anyone else having similar experiences?

I have been exporting out of FCP as a Final Cut Pro movie, not a QuickTime file. Maybe that's where I am going wrong.

Today I am exporting out of FCP as you do Ken, as a DV Stream.

Then I will use that file and iDVD to make another DVD and see how that looks for colour etc. Perhaps I have been compressing the movie twice?

thanks

Well you are compressing the movie into DV and then into MPEG2, so yes you are compressing it twice.... that can't be avoided no matter what. I don't know what the difference between a DV Stream and a Final Cut Pro movie would be. I think it results in the exact same data. I'll be interested to hear your results.

FCP3 Mac G4
I've done something and I cant think what!
Each time I put an audio file into the timeline I get the red render bar. I then render the entire audio track. When I insert another video clip the red render bar appears over the newly inserted video track. I've checked and re-checked the set-up settings and everything looks to be OK. They're set at DV Pal 48 KHz

Off-hand it sounds like the sampling rates of your audio files may be different from that of your FCP timeline. Unless this is going to be a very short project I'd suggest you recapture / regenerate your external audio files with the same sampling rate. Otherwise you'll be re-rendering audio over and over.

Hi,

What is the source of your external audio clips? Are you sure they are 48kHz?

Jeff Donald

The footage I exported as a FCP movie was actually slightly larger then when exported as a DV Stream. ie 2.4gig opposed to 2.3g as a DV Stream. (The FCP manula says FCP exported movie gives broadcast uality compreesed file and DV Stream gives broadcast quality uncompressed file) then I burnt to iDVD and same problem occured but then:

Good news. I figured it out.

The problem was I created a new iDVD project and then I selected PAL system in prferences, but you need to select your system first and then when you create your next Project you get choosen system.

So I was shooting and editing in PAL then I was accidentally telling iDVD to burn the DVD as an NTSC disc.

So now I have created a DVD with superb picture, with the quality I was hoping for.

thanks for all replies!
:o)

Sounds like a good bit of detective work. I followed this string with interest, because I'd intended, now that I have one of the "big bopper" G4s, to start using a DVD for mastering, rather than the expensive full size DV cassettes. I was hoping I wouldn't need the DV Studio Pro package. Sounds like it worked OK for you.

Yeah, next Chris will make you start wearing clean Levis with no holes.......

If you look sharp, then you feel sharp. Shirt tails tucked in, and a belt, that's all I ask. Straighten your gig line, mister! I hope not too many people ever had to hear that in their teens and twenties.

As a matter of fact, I *did* hear that in my early twenties while in the USMC -- however, I recall a word other than 'mister' being used!

Semper Fi

The audio source is from a music CD. I didn't think that this made a difference because I know the CD audio rate is 44.1 KHz but that has never made a difference in the past as i thought that FCP converted.
David

David,

I can't say that your trouble rests with your cd imports but I can say that I've had some mix-ups with importing tracks directly into FCP3 in the past. (Apple's instructions are at

http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa/112/wa/query?type=id&val=KC.61032 )

I've had the best results using PeakDV (supplied with FCP3) to read a cd track, save it as an AIFF file and then importing the AIFF file into FCP3. It might be worth a try if other alternatives continue to fail.

I've never had trouble importing AIFFs or WAVs into FCP and using them in the timeline, even if they are 44.1K and the rest of the audio is 48K. Importing mono sounds is kind of goofy, though. Instead of taking up two tracks like normal stereo audio, they only take up one yet come out of both speakers. I am not sure if you can pan the audio or not to where you want it to play, say extreme left for example.

I think my problems stem from using Toast Titanium which I was using the other day to burn an audio CD from FCP. Somewhere along the line the settings have got changed. However I have managed to work round the problem by exporting the audio file from FCP to the desktop as an AIFF file at 48 KHz and then importing back into FCP. This works OK so I'll have to stick with this 'till I can sort it out.
Many thanks to you all for your help.
Regards

Yes Vic,

eventually it was very good. And appart from that one hickup it is a really easy program to use without reading manuals.

I just started to export into dvcpro and found that using quicktime pro, you can export audio from its source rate to whatever your final sampling rate needs to be. This is great to swap out an audio track from 32k to 48k. Also the audio track is small and fast to rewrite compared to doing the clip as a whole.

I don't suppose they used a word like "mofo"...:-)

Actually, I can recall hearing about "gig line" as early as Boy Scouts (scoutmaster thought he was still in the Corps) and the habit of checking it persists to this day.

Hi All,

I'm about to make the jump from PC to Mac. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go with the Dual 1ghz G4. I will be purchasing this to edit with Final Cut Pro. I have a few questions...please forgive me if they seem stupid, but remember I'll be new to Mac and FCP.

I keep hearing/reading about RT effects, etc. I know with FCP I'll have to render, but are you able to see your effects at all before rendering? My question is: are you able to view your effects with some type of preview quality? I'm coming from working with PCs and the Pinnacle Studio software and the Vegas Video software I've used both let you see your effects before rendering the final full quality project.

What are the titling capabilities in FCP 3? I've read that it includes some type of Boris plug-in for text? I've seen very few examples of what the type looks like in FCP.

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Shuttle Pro device? Do you like it? Dislike it?

I've already found some good info here on this board. I'll be saving my money that I was going to put towards the Matrox RT. Doesn't look like its worth it if it doesn't work with OSX. The thread about monitors was really helpful.

I'll be here with plenty of questions once I get the system and start working with it. Thanks in advance for any help!

-Mike

I'm also interested to hear peoples opinions on the Shuttle Pro and also FCP dedicated keyboards

I'm looking for ways to save some money when purchasing my new Mac. I'm thinking of going with the Radeon video card versus the nvidia. What do you think? I'll be using the computer mostly for video editing, won't be using it for games and right now do not plan on any 3D projects. Is this an ok option to save a hundred bucks to put towards more memory or a second hard drive?

-Mike

Both cards are more than enough for video editing. The Radeon will do the job well. It has 32MB of DDR RAM which is more than enough for video application

I have used the shuttle pro for almost a year now and I find it a big help. I have it plugged into the left USB port on my stock Apple keyboard and a Microsoft trackball into the right USB port. I alternate using the two input devices and keyboard shortcuts. When I am logging footage and such the contour works real well for me. i've been editing for years so I use alot of keyboard shortcuts to speed things up. The buttons on the contour are programable and you can download setups for other programs like After Effects and Photoshop. They sent me an email several days ago that they would have a big announcement at NAB. So wait and see. If you don't edit with the keyboard I suggest trying to learn it. In my opinion the best way would be to get one of the custom keyboards and force yourself to do it on the keyboard. it will really make you a faster and better editor.

Jeff Donald

I've been using the Post-Op Video keyboard for FCP for a couple of years, and wasn't aware of how much I depend on it until bringing home my new system recently and booting up FCP--looking down at the stock keyboard gave me a bit of a shock! I definitely recommend it...

Mike -
I think that that's a very good idea. The Radeon will do the job just fine.

I've heard that it is a good idea to partition your hard drive. Will this help the computer's performance when it comes to video work? Also, is this easy to do and do any of you recommend it or not recommend doing this?

Honestly I don't see an advantage of doing this. I'd rather have two separate large capacity hard drives.

It is a good idea to partition your HDD if you only have one drive to work with. Partitioning the drive creates a virtual drive so your computer thinks it has 2 drives instead of one.

When working with audio/video, it is recommended that you keep the A/V files seperate from the OS files. This is what Joe meant by prefering 2 seperate drives. Keeping the files seperate means the computer dosen't have to sort through the OS files to find your A/V files. As you would imagine this makes the process much smoother and faster. It also adds to system stability. Not such and issue on Macs but it is on a PC.

I agree with Joe in prefering 2 large capacity drives, but if you can't afford to buy a second drive, then partitioning is the next best thing.

To do it you'll have to use a third party partitioning application like Partition Magic. I'm not sure if there is a Mac version, but I'm sure there is something out there to do the job.

However, DON'T try partitioning unless you know what you are doing. You can lose all your data or make your computer unbootable. If you do know enough to have a go at partitioning, remember the most important thing to do when changing anything to do with your file system is to backup everything before you start making changes.

Thanks guys, that's 2 of the best reasons to add both to my new system

Hi,

I would say if you are using Mac OSX and Final Cut Pro you should be partioning. Almost a must. To avoid a HUGE reply go over to Apple's site and FCP support discussions and search partion and in particular some of Jerry Hoffmans posts. Best perfomance will result from a partioned drive or drives. Good luck.

Jeff Donald

Another solution for future prijects might be to get Pro Tools Free from Digidesign. You can mix up to eight tracks of audio (more MIDI tracks) and import into FCP. As the name implies its free by download or they'll send you the CD for a small handling charge. I haven't had a chance to totally check this out but it seems to work.

Better than using two separate drives, one for OS and the other for the video files?

I should have been more specific. For overall system stability with OS X you would want to partition the drive for the system files and library on one partition. The applications should be on another partition but the same drive. The media files should be on another drive. This is how the best stability for the system would be achieved. The best overall performance for capturing is to have the media on a seperate drive. If all you do is DV FireWire is fine. If you want to do anything more than DV you should consider large 7200rpm IDE ATA drives. The fastest being stripped as a pair (RAID 0) internally. If you want to do HD go for SCSI drives stripped as a pair or more in a RAID 0.

If you need more details e-mail with specific sizes of your drives and what formats you work in and I'll be happy to help.

Jeff Donald

Thanks for the info!

I'll be working exclusively with DV. If I do get a second drive, then is partitioning something that I can live without? I'll admit that I'm not that comfortable trying something like that right now...maybe down the road. Also, you feel that a firewire hard drive would be suitable for DV work?

I appreciate everyone's help!

There will always be differences of opinion for the need to partition. However, if you write all of your media to a second hard drive, there is little to be gained by partitioning your drive, especially considering the potential for screwing things up. I've used an unpartitioned main drive for several years with no problems.

Using a FW drive for the media will work well, provided you insure that you have an adequate data transfer rate, i.e., at *least* 5 Mbps. Most FW adapters will exceed that by a bunch.

If using something like the Firestore to record your video directly to a FW drive in real time, you can then import the video directly into your editing program. Saves all of that capture time.

I'm hoping someone can help me in time for me to edit some footage on my G4 tonight for a class that's descending upon my home!

Warning--there are many technical terms that I don't know how to use correctly, so please bear with me.

I have a G4 that I purchased in Feb. of 2000 -- it's got 256K, 400MHz, and 10 GB. I also purchased a refurbished Medea Video Raid with 24GB of SCSI. Herein lies my problem. A friend set all this up for me, partitioning the raid into three partitions of 8GB a piece.

Lately, the computer has been doing weird things when I first turn it on---it will take forever to start, with the start "bar" getting stuck. Sometimes the starting process will finally make it to my desktop screen, only to get locked up there, so that I can never see any icons, or menus. All I can do is press the restart button. A few times, it finally started all the way through, but this morning, no luck, after restarting six times.

If I turn the computer on ***without the raid*** on, everything is just peachy, and it turns on fast.

I wish the stupid raid wasn't partitioned, because I also run into trouble capturing footage. The partition will run out of space, and the capturing process will freeze up.

I have no earthly idea how to reconfigure everything, and a friend once idly mentioned that to UNpartition things, I'd have to take everything off my computer! Great. Piece of cake.

Anyone have any ideas about what's going on, and what I can do? I have to admit that I feel like a real idiot about messing with the internal "structure" of the computer. I've put in a few calls to friends, and I'm hoping that somehow, I can get this all resolved by tonight. I was also hoping to get in there and delete some projects so I can have some more room and not have things freeze up again while capturing...

Sorry to make this so long, and I hope I've been clear enough to understand, technically. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!

Many thanks in advance,
Jennifer

forgot to add---I have OS 9, and FCP 1.2... I looked at a few other posts and something caught my eye: I have never defragmented anything. Maybe something to try?

thanks again,
Jennifer

Í don't know how much help this will be but the first thing I would do is to reconfigure your RAID as the 3 partitions may be causing the system some confusion. The whole idea of using RAID for video is to use multipule disks as one disk. Set it up to stripe all the SCSI disks into one 24GB drive. This is RAID 0. Once that is done it might solve your problems

Thanks Adrian,

I just don't know how to do that!

I've looked at the Medea site (where I bought the RAID), and at 2-pop, and couldn't come up with anything...

Jennie,

Drop Chris Hurd a line he'll be able to steer(bad pun for Texas) you in the right direction as to someone in Austin who can set your RAID up for you. There are quite a few Texans here, maybe one of them can help you.

Yeah, we Texans are everywhere... :-)

That's a good idea--I might look into finding a pro.

In the meantime, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that somebody here posts a solution!